Disney is working on making toys using 3D printers, which will include a slew of light-based objects that may expand the creative options of the children's film, game and toy maker.

Disney is working on making toys using 3D printers, which will include a slew of light-based objects that may expand the creative options of the children's film, game and toy maker.

You might not have thought it, but the cartoon giant operates a research lab in Pittsburgh, where prototypes of the new technology have been made. The researchers released a paper highlighting how 3D printing could lead to new creations.

“We envision a future world where interactive devices can be printed rather than assembled,” the paper states, according to the BBC. “A world where a device with active components is created as a single object, rather than a case enclosing circuit boards and individual assembled parts.”

The toys could include chess pieces that light up and display information about their positions on a chess board, toy blocks that show explosions inside when light is shone on them, and the eyes of toy creatures that could adjust to show different emotions.

The beauty of 3D printing is that new designs, created using computer software, could be tested within minutes, whereas the old-fashioned approach requires a toy factory's assembly machines to be adjusted in order to make the initial prototype. One potential setback, however, is the risk of piracy when 3D designs are leaked on the internet, allowing anyone with a 3D printer to make their own toys.

3D printing, which involves depositing a liquid that hardens when exposed to ultraviolet light, has been around for a while now, but the cost of using it has held back its widespread adoption. Toys produced in this way are likely to be expensive, so it will take some time before we see them in our local shops, but Disney is clearly keen to get an early start on what might put Santa's elves permanently out of work.